The Princess of Skyloft
by nirvana18
Summary: An extremely random overview of Zelda's childhood. Everything in the story takes place before the events of Skyward Sword. Completed.


Zelda had been practically born royalty among the citizens of Skyloft.

She could admit now, at the age the mature age of seventeen, that being born to Gaepora had made her bratty and spoiled as a child. She'd expected everyone to simply meet her every demand just because she was the daughter of the closest thing the small town had to a leader.

Everyone did have extreme pity on her, which was probably another reason they all generally appeased anything she wanted. She'd lost her mother, after all. Poor Zelda. Poor Gaepora. So she was treated like a princess by all.

Since he father owned the Knight Academy, she'd been raised there since birth. She had no memory of her mother, though her father would occasionally stroke her hair and tell her how much she looked like her. In her stubbornness, she'd felt as a young child that she didn't even need her mother's presence in her life. She had her father; she had Horwell- the professor had taken on the role of mother to her with his gentle soul. She would get by just fine without her.

She'd grown and things had changed.

She longed for her mother desperately. She spent a majority of her time studying and training and playing the strange stringed instrument that her father called a harp. She needed someone to confine in. She was seven years old and as lonely as someone who'd spent a lifetime alone.

He'd lived in town as long as she had, and he was older. They looked enough alike that many thought they could be related, but she always thought he was handsomer than she was pretty.

She remembered the day very vividly that he'd lost both of his parents.

Her father had told her that there had been an accident, that Link would be coming to live at the academy with them. She never knew what had happened to his parents, but she assumed they fell to the clouds below by accident. Her father started a special training for the graduated knights; now there was a constant night watch. The Loftwings had flashlights tied to their heads, lighting up the night sky and occasionally shining brightly into her bedroom window at night.

Link and she became fast friends. Here was someone who understood her seven-year-old angst.

They spent nearly every waking moment together. He never talked, but she did enough of that for the two of them. She'd questioned her father about his muteness, to which Gaepora replied "Everyone is different, Zelda. He'll talk if he wants to."

That was enough to satisfy her. Link's facial expressions were enough to tell her what he was thinking, so she never minded his silence. He didn't need to talk to comfort her; he'd been through even more pain than she. He'd lost his father _and _his mother.

They did all the things that seven-year-olds did. They threw stones at Beedle's Airshop and ran when he lowered down the ladder, pressing their palms to their mouths to stifle their laughter.

She played him music on her harp; he listened with wide blue eyes and applauded her after every performance, no matter how badly she'd messed up _The Ballad of the Goddess. _

Later, when they were around ten and eleven, they entered into that awkward stage of childhood together and began their first year of school at the Knight Academy. Zelda started wearing dresses and Link grew five inches taller than her. They speculated- well, Zelda speculated- which sort of Loftwing they would get when they turned thirteen.

Then came the year they did _finally _turned thirteen, and the insane jealousy she felt that Link had gotten a crimson Loftwing, a breed so rare everyone thought they'd died out long ago. For her part, she'd gotten a beautiful purple Loftwing, the color of royalty. Fitting for the princess of Skyloft.

That was also the year Groose began picking on Link mercilessly. Despite her jealousy, she defended her best friend angrily every time Groose came around. It wasn't his fault, after all.

Then, their final year at the Academy. She played her harp almost constantly; her fingers calloused from plucking the thin strings. She and Link spent countless hours in the shade of the goddess's statue, listening to her perfect The Ballad of Goddess. She'd sing it to him softly, the words he'd heard a million times throughout their childhood.

Just the same as she'd felt so lonely without a mother as a child, she felt absolutely happy now as a teenager.

She'd grown from a spoiled child to a true friend. She sacrificed endless hours to dedicate to Link's training. She wanted him to graduate more than she wanted that for herself.

But…

But something troubled her. She'd hear voices calling to her with nobody actually attached to them. They became clearer over the weeks, and her anxiety grew. Was she insane?

She'd finally realized the most disturbing thing about the soft voices… they were coming from below the clouds. Everyone knew not to fly too close to the clouds, as soft and warm and inviting as they looked… they were lethal. They'd suck you in to your absolute death.

But these voices called for her tenderly, and she _wanted _to go to them.

She wondered if that was how Link's parents had gone to their deaths- hand in hand, hearing the softly calling tones tug at them to the only place where they could see the faces attached to the beautiful voices.

She'd confessed to Link her troubles, and he'd just smiled sweetly and squeezed her hand, silently reassuring her.

But the voices were growing stronger every day, and she had a feeling the princess of Skyloft wouldn't get to enjoy her upcoming graduation.


End file.
